Chandigarh, August 22, 2026: Paramjit Singh Kainth, State Vice President of the Bharatiya Janata Party Scheduled Caste Morcha, Punjab, has launched a sharp attack on the Bhagwant Mann government over the pending Dearness Allowance (DA/DR) dues of Punjab’s government employees and pensioners.

Kainth said that the Bhagwant Mann government’s indifference towards the rights of employees has now been exposed. The employees whose hard work keeps government offices, hospitals, schools and the administration functioning are made to hear that the government treasury is empty when it comes to paying their legitimate DA, but there appears to be no shortage of money for advertisements highlighting the government’s achievements and for political publicity.

He said that the Punjab and Haryana High Court, on April 8, 2026, had directed the Punjab government to release the pending instalments of DA/DR. Thereafter, on August 3, 2026, the Division Bench dismissed the government’s appeals and directed the release of the pending DA/DR within 14 days. The court also made it clear that until the pending amount is paid, the government should avoid non-productive expenditure such as large-scale advertising campaigns.

Kainth said that repeatedly postponing employees’ legitimate dues by citing a financial crisis is unacceptable. According to reports that emerged in May 2026, the outstanding DA liability of the Punjab government was estimated at approximately ₹15,000 crore.

He said that DA is not a government favour; it is an employees’ right. In an era of rising inflation, dearness allowance is directly linked to the economic security of employees. Delaying the pending instalments is evidence of the government’s financial failure and administrative insensitivity.

Kainth said that if the government does not have money to pay employees their pending dues, then it should tell the people of Punjab how much money is being spent on advertisements, political programmes and government publicity. The fact that Punjab’s employees have been forced to knock on the doors of the government for their legitimate rights exposes the reality behind the Bhagwant Mann government’s politics of “change.”

He said that the government must take the court’s directions and the legitimate demands of employees seriously and *immediately release the entire pending amount of DA/DR.* Instead of making further excuses, the government should announce a clear timeline specifying by which date each pending instalment will be paid.